The Netherlands is not what you think

Rule number one when cycle touring in the heat: get away early in the morning so you can get some distance before the real heat of the day sets in.

Consider rule number one broken today. We know it is wrong. We know we should be getting on our bikes instead of walking down to the outdoor archaeological park for its opening time of 9am. But we both really want to visit the museum. We figure we can do it quickly and be gone from Xantem before 11 and we figure we’ll just suck it up today.

The museum is interesting, but not as good as I had hoped. I’d had visions of dug-up Roman ruins, a reconstructed town, all the fantasies. Most of the museum is a green park, lovingly cared for, with walkways where the original streets would be and, thankfully, trees where covered walkways would have been. There’s a reconstruction of a ruin of a temple, but none of that I think is original material. A lot of the original stone was removed, probably in the middle ages, and used to build other things, like churches and houses. That seems to be a common story. And think about it, you’re a middle-ages person just trying to get by and build a house. Here’s a pile of old rubble – it’s recycling at its greatest!

The bath house is interesting – probably more intact than anywhere else, and with a roofed structure built over it to protect it from the elements. The steel arches in the structure are built to mimic the original stone arches of the baths. You walk around on an elevated walkway in the baths, and there’s lots of interpretive signs explaining what each chamber is and how the place would function. There’s just a lot of scholarly interpretation going on and it shows that there are a lot of people who have made a career out of knowing about Roman baths.

We finally hit the road, and it is hot! First stop is a supermarket to load up on cold drinks, then we follow a path around two lakes that lie to the north of Xanten. Riding beside the water helps with the heat, which is already mounting.

We have aroud 40km to get to the Netherlands border and we make as much haste as we can. Once we are clear of the lakes we are riding mostly on levees, with the wide, flat, green floodplains to either side. Already the countryside is changing. It seems more green, more flat, and the houses seem more Dutch, if such a thing can be defined. (Someone said to me, regarding the houses, “Ah yes, a lot less colourful.”)

Neil spies something that looks like silo art. But no, this is an amusement park, built into a never-commissioned nuclear power plant. There is a ride that goes right up from the cooling tower and apparently a climbing wall on the tower. As we pass the gates we see a Dutch man we had met earlier in the day. “Did you go on a ride?” asks Neil.

”No, just a picture. I went there once, long ago.”

So this repurposed nuclear power plant has been here for quite some time!

We finally reach the German-Netherlands border, though you would hardly know it. There’s a line on my Garmin screen map, and a very small marker post. So now it is Auf Wiedersehen to Germany and Hallo to the Netherlands.

Almost immediately there is an ijscafe and we fall into it, hot and parched, along with dozens of other cyclists. It’s a welcome break before a ferry crossing and our last 20km push to Arnhem.

Our first hour or so in the Netherlands helps to dispel a few myths.

Myth number one: The Netherlands is totally bike friendly. Well … the bike lanes may be wide, well maintained and largely flat, but some of the drivers leave a lot to be desired. We are almost assaulted by one car, when we’re riding on a bike lane where cars are “welcome”. When you are “welcome” you generally don’t charge along like you own the place and expect everyone else to get out of your way. And no, this wasn’t a four-ringed cycle killer, but some equally (if not more) expensive hunk of entitled metal. There were others. Also, bike lanes seem to be shared with motorbikes, and the motorbikes hoon along twice (or more) as fast as a bike, passing very, very close.

Myth number two: The Netherlands is completely flat. Nup. There were more ups and downs (and not just up and over a road or railway line) in our first hour in the Netherlands than in the last few days in Germany.

Myth number three: It is always cold and rainy in the Netherlands. Average temperature while we were riding today: 35C. Need I say more?

We arrive in Arnhem and I am literally cooked. Our plan was to stay here, but last night we discovered there was nowhere – besides an AUD800 room at the Holiday Inn – because of a) a Bad Bunny concert and b) the European Transplant Games. So instead, we are taking a train for half an hour to a place called Zutphen. We have to wait until after peak hour for the train (so we can take our bikes) so have our end of ride beer while waiting.

Zutphen is a lovely little town. I wish I could have enjoyed more time here, and enjoyed more the time I did have here. I am still cooked – quite obviously dehydrated despite all my efforts today. All I want is to drink water, and when we go for dinner a concerned Neil is encouraging me to eat while I pour glass after glass of bubble water and down it. I get a couple of Arancini balls in, and valiantly eat about half of my delicious risotto, but that’s about it.

We watch this little town spring to life at night. People really do ride their bikes everywhere. They ride up, park, lock the bike and then wander off, to dinner, for drinks, whatever. The evening is cooling down and people are out, most likely because they don’t have air conditioning at home.

Stats for today:

• Distance: 66.82km
• Climb: 153m
• Average speed: 17.6km/h
• Average temperature: 35C
• Moving time: 3:47:53
• See our ride on Strava

The beer picture

At the end of a day’s ride, our tradition is to enjoy a beer, and to photograph it for posterity. Today’s beer picture was taken at a beer place near Arnhem Central station. We were hot, sweaty, dirty and most likely smelly, but had an hour to kill before our train to Zutphen.

Along the way today:

Click on an image to scroll through the gallery at full size.